Aug. 29, 2009
SAINT LOUIS, Mo. - In front of a packed house of 6,106 at Saint Louis University's Chaifetz Arena, the top-ranked Nittany Lions secured a 3-0 triumph against the No. 20 Billikens. Penn State's NCAA-record winning streak moved to 67 consecutive games with the win.
This evening's match was the second all-time meeting between Penn State and Saint Louis. The Nittany Lions now hold a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Senior Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) was named the Active Ankle Challenge MVP. Juniors Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) and Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) and senior Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) were all named to the All-Tournament team.
Hodge led all players with 17 kills on .424 hitting. Freshman Darcy Dorton (Muncie, Ind.) was the only other Nittany Lion in double-digit kills, while Glass paced the offense with 37 assists. D'Errico led Penn State with 14 digs and junior Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) had a team-best four block assists.
It was a close set from the very beginning, as neither team could seem to break away. Junior Cathy Quilico (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) broke through right at the start with an ace, but SLU's Sammi McCloud answered back with a kill to tie it 1-1. Penn State managed to take a three-point lead, 8-5, after two Billiken errors, and the Nittany Lions secured some breathing room moments later with a five-point advantage courtesy of a Brown kill and an attack error by SLU's Alyssa Deno. After a Saint Louis timeout, Billiken Megan Boken notched a kill, but Hodge responded immediately with a kill of her own to make it 14-9. Dorton put the Nittany Lions up by six, 16-10, with a kill, but a Billiken kill and three straight PSU attack errors put SLU within two, 16-14, forcing a PSU timeut. Kills from Dorton, Glass and Hodge kept the Nittany Lions ahead, but SLU fought back with three kills to tie the set, 22-22. Hodge posted a kill to put Penn State in the lead, but SLU continued to have an answer. The score would tie five more times before back-to-back Hodge kills secured a 29-27 set one win. Hodge led all players with 11 kills on .667 hitting.
The Nittany Lions broke away early in the second set, jumping out to an 8-3 advantage on kills from Hodge, Brown and Wilson and a service ace. The Billikens came within two, 9-7, but Penn State moved back ahead by five, 12-7, after three straight kills. Penn State stayed ahead by at least two points for the remainder of the frame and had a 21-17 lead when SLU took its second timeout of the set. The timeout failed to slow Penn State's momentum as two kills and two Billiken errors later the Nittany Lions won set two, 25-18.
Penn State wasted no time in the third set taking a 6-2 lead after back-to-back blocks. Three straight Billiken errors forced SLU to take a timeout as the Nittany Lions surged ahead by six, 11-5. SLU posted two points off a kill and an ace, but Dorton kept Penn State ahead by five with a kill. From there, the Nittany Lions never looked back. Kills from Hodge and Blair and two more Billiken errors had Penn State leading 16-9 and Saint Louis taking a second timeout. SLU failed to slow the Nittany Lions and an ace from D'Errico gave Penn State a 20-10 advantage. A kill from Wilson and two more from Dorton closed out the set, 25-14, and secured the sweep for Penn State.
Penn State hosts the Nittany Lion Invitational on Sept. 4-5. The Nittany Lions take on Buffalo in their home opener on Friday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall. On Saturday, Penn State faces Robert Morris at 10 a.m. followed by Pittsburgh at 7 p.m.